The Case For Better African Governance in Managing Chinese Development Projects

File image of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway that China financed and built as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Simon Mania/AFP

There’s been mounting criticism of Chinese development projects in Africa by both political and civil society actors in response to rising debt levels, environmental degradation, and the maltreatment of local workers by Chinese managers.

While many put the burden of responsibility squarely at the feet of Chinese companies and even the Chinese government in some instances, University of Nairobi Lecturer Oscar Otele argues in a new paper that it’s African governments rather than the Chinese stakeholders who should be held to account.

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by Eric Olander

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